In his memoir "Palimpsest," he called Waugh "a drunken social climber who wrote small funny novels of no great appeal" and who now, after the TV miniseries brought him posthumous fame, is "to English literature what Winston Churchill is to politics."

In this order the troops moved forward towards the enemy, a distance of six miles, the advance conducted by Captain Waugh, 16th Lancers, the Deputy Assistant Quarter-Master of Cavalry, Major Bradford, of the 1st Cavalry, and Lieutenant Strachey of the Engineers, who had been jointly employed in the conduct of patroles up to the enemy's position, and for the purpose of reporting upon the facility and point of approach.